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For only
the second time, the head of an overseas branch of the Orthodox Church will be
visiting Alaska. The Primate of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and
Slovak, Metropolitan Christopher, the Archbishop of Prague, will spend two
weeks in Alaska, attending dedications of new Russian Orthodox Churches and
attending the annual Pilgrimage of Saint Herman in Kodiak. Patriarch Aleksy II
of Moscow visited in 1993 on the bicentennial of Orthodoxy's arrival in
America.

Father
Michael Oleksa, the acting chancellor for the Orthodox Diocese of Alaska, will
be the metropolitan's tour guide for much of his visit. Father Michael has
known the metropolitan since studying overseas many years ago. The Alaska visit
was facilitated through a visit made by Bishop Benjamin to Prague:

"Consequently, he being bishop of
Alaska and so forth, and they being very interested in Alaska, after he
concluded his visit to Slovakia and the Czech Republic, he reciprocated (and
asked), 'why don't you come to Alaska?' And they had specifically asked for an
invitation to Alaska in fact," Father Michael said.."All though he's bishop of California as well,
they weren't too interested in San Francisco and Los Angeles as they were in
the land of Saint Herman. So the bishop said, ‘Fine, let's plan on it next
summer,' and that's how this all got started."

Father
Michael says the metropolitan will have a busy schedule as soon as he gets to
Alaska, including attendance at the groundbreaking of a new Orthodox church in
Wasilla, but he will get two days to fish and bear-watch on Lake Clark. After
blessing the newly-renovated church in Nondalton, the metropolitan and his
entourage will head for the Kuskokwim River, where several stops are planned.

"In
Tuluksak they're actually going to break ground for a new church named for
Saint Prince Rastislav, the Prince of Moravia who invited the Orthodox
missionaries to his principality back in the 800s. This is the first church in
America dedicated to Prince Rastislav. And I think the delegation is bringing a
special icon to present to the community there as they begin construction of
their church. When Bishop Benjamin told them last year they were going to build
the Saint Rastislav Church, they said they'd have to be there for that."

Before
coming to Kodiak for the annual Saint Herman Pilgrimage to Spruce Island,
Metropolitan Christopher will visit two coastal villages:

"We're
going down to Eek where they built a new church. And to the village of
Quinhagak, where Saint Juvenaly, a colleague and member of the original Valaam
mission to Kodiak with Saint Herman, where Father Juvenaly and his Athabaskan
companion were martyred in 1797 or 1798. We have a community there that wants
to build a church, and it will be the Saint Juvenaly and his Athabaskan
Companion Orthodox Church"

Father
Michael says the metropolitan is coming to Alaska at a time of rapid growth for
the Orthodox Church in the state:

"I
think we've never had more clergy than we have now. The seminary has produced
more priests than we've ever had in the diocese. We're building as you can
tell. I can count five new churches going up, so expanding into communities
where there haven't been Orthodox churches in the past. Mostly because of
intermarriage. It's the same story: Orthodox people on the Kuskokwim marry
Moravians. Now there's 80 Orthodox in Quinhagak. It's still a thousand
Moravians, but there's 80 Orthodox want a church of their own. The Moravians
want to help them out and give them the land. So we're going to Quinhagak to
meet with that community."

Metropolitan
Christopher is scheduled to arrive in Alaska on Saturday, and he will be in
Kodiak for the pilgrimage from August 7th through the 9th.
Unfortunately Father Michael will be teaching a college course and will be
unable to attend the pilgrimage this year.